Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Bede's history of the English Church and people, concluding with his autobiography describing a lifetime devoted to Scripture study in the monastery.
Preface and Praise of Sacred Scripture
-
Chapter IV: The Judgments and Examples of the Fathers
— Bede quoted from his English History on entering the monastery at age seven and devoting all effort to Scripture
"I," he says, "entered the monastery at the age of seven, and there I devoted all my effort to meditating on the Scriptures for my whole life, and amid the observance of regular discipline and the daily care of singing in the church, I always found it sweet either to learn, or to teach, or to write."